Obsessive eye wiping

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

DD (2yo) has been doing this for several weeks now, but in the last few days it's got a lot worse and she's sometimes making the skin around her eyes red and raw.

I suspect it's a habit rather than caused by a physical condition. Her eyes are clear, not gunky, weeping or bloodshot. I've noticed DD wipes at her eyes whenever they get slightly wet - if she's just coughed, sneezed or cried, especially. When she's left them alone for a while, the skin around her eyes is perfectly smooth and there's no inflammation - the redness etc. is entirely caused by her wiping action, as far as I can tell.

At the moment I'm trying hard not to draw attention to the wiping, distracting her by keeping her hands busy doing other things and gently applying some baby balsam to ease the soreness a bit when the skin goes red.

I've noticed she does it more when she's with DH or with her GPs than when she's with me.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? What did you do?

(It's calmed down at the moment, but if she makes the skin all red again, I intend to get her checked by a GP on the off-chance it may have a physical cause.)

Might be conjunctivitis. All my kids have had it at some point (suspect DD has just got it now, her eyes are looking a bit red).

Thanks Try. I'll get it checked, although her actual eyes aren't red at all - just the skin around them where she wipes at them!

I hope your DD gets over it soon

Optometrist here. I usually find there are a few possible reasons why children might do this
1/ Allergy. The eye might not be red but can be a bit mucousy, An optometrist can check for this for everting ( turning inside out) the eyelid and checking using a slit lamp.
2/ Difficulty focussing or converging. If the child has difficulty with vision, focussing or has difficulty using the two eyes together, they may rub the eyes in response to eyestrain.
3/ Habit!

I would get her eyes checked, either by an optometrist who has a special interest in children or an ophthalmologist. Even if it is just habit, it's better to rule the other two out.

That's a good suggestion chipmonkey - I must admit, going to an optometrist hadn't occurred to me but I rather suspect one specialising in children may be more aware of the possibilities than my various lovely GPs.

Her eye isn't at all mucousy, but you're right I should get allergies at least ruled out. And eye-strain is a possibility - I wonder if the wet eyes thing could make focusing more difficult for her.

I'm rather hoping it IS just a habit now, it'd be a shame if DD needed corrective eyewear this young (DH and I both wear glasses, but neither of us needed them until we were in our 20s/30s).

It does seem unlikely as most children that young who need glasses have inherited hypermetropia from their parents but best to be safe, there's always the odd recessive gene!